This is worth watching from Francesca Albanese, the very brave UN Special Rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian state:
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Ireland is to introduce a bill banning the import of goods from Israeli settlements on the West Bank.
It will only affect a couple of million euros’ worth of trade but it makes a point.
the Reverend Huckabee, the US Ambassador to Israel, says Ireland should “sober up.”
The Spectator and the Hill both have headlines saying ‘Ireland will regret it.’ Maybe others in Europe will impose the same but I doubt it.
Ireland is doing the right thing
We should all hold our heads in shame to be honest.
But also, we must realise that if they can do this to the Palestinians, they can do it to anyone, including us.
And finally, societies under threat remember things and that can create revenge. We are going to be less safe because people will remember.
My hat off to this woman who speaks with more real authority than Starmer, Netanyahu and Trump combined.
Thanks for showing Francesca Albanese calmly and clearly setting out just who and what companies are involved, along with governments such as our own UK government, in the extermination and elimination of the Palestinian people – and why.
It was a distressing video but enlightening. The extent of the murderous web is horrifying.
I feel sick to my stomach at the knowledge that those household names that I might be buying goods and services from are involved in this sickening genocide. Car companies and Airbnb, for God’s sake; it’s revolting.
They’re driven by greed. That’s what it boils down to, doesn’t it? They’re enriching themselves by slaughtering those innocent, unarmed people. They’re testing new weapons of war on fellow human beings.
Other than what I’ve already written, words fail me. I can’t express what I feel towards the culpable. They need to be stopped now.
I’m still troubled by whether ‘intent’ is needed to establish if there’s a genocide or not. We’ve seen the official figures from the Hamas health ministry that close to 60,000 Gazans have been killed sine 07.10.23. But suppose that the Israeli technology wasn’t as good as it is, their weapons weren’t as modern, their intelligence poor, their troops less able and that they had killed say 3,000 Gazans in the same timescale.
Would it still be a genocide if their intent was to kill all Gazans, but they didn’t have the ability?
Yes
“Genocide” can be tricky to prove in IHL and the international courts have not had a lot of success prosecuting it over the years since Nuremberg (even so there have been official international court pronouncements about “a plausible case” for genocide, and formal announcements from international courts about our IHL obligations to “prevent” genocide which we are ignoring).
But there are plenty of other official war crimes with a far lower burden of proof than genocide, that the Israelis have zero justification for.
When arguing with already convinced opponents, the crime of “genocide” may be worth avoiding as a topic, in favour of other, less tricky to prove war crimes for which there is a surfeit of evidence, often from Israeli sources or statements from the IDF, their troops or government ministers.
Lest there be any confusion about my own view (and IANAL), I personally am in no doubt that the Israeli government intends, and is practising genocide in both Gaza and in the West Bank and has been carrying this out since well before Oct 7 2023. But I’m not expecting to see any Israeli cabinet ministers or senior IDF commanders indicted by an international court.
I find it v scary how deeply we are involved in these crimes through well known corporates, because it indicates how committed the UK (and allies) will be to suppressing dissent, and they will go much further than we might be expecting, the repression may be quite brutal, because protecting the worshippers of Mammon who own the corporations who are stealing our national wealth day by day, takes priority over everything else, especially the human rights of our fellow human beings around the world.
Dystopia has arrived, but we are not yet defeated.
Emma turned out to be a Zionist troll.
A complex area, but yes. The intent may not be able to be proved directly (which nation, organisation or person is going to publicly state or minute such an intent), however circumstantial evidence has been effectively used in the past.
The Bosnian Serb army, an army nowhere near as technologically capable as the IDF, did not have a hope in hell of eradicating the entire Bosnian Muslim population, yet they loaded something like 8,000 men and young boys onto trucks, took them away from the town of Srebrenica, and had them shot. This was not the kind of act that happens accidentally. Neither was the shelling of Bosnian Muslim civilians during the siege of Sarajevo. Also, these episodes were not cases of civilians being “collateral damage” following the deliberate engagement of recognised enemy forces following a rigorous, documented targeting process.
The Bosnian Serb Commander, Ratko Mladic, was convicted of a number of crimes, including genocide, as was the Republika Srpska (Bosnian Serb) President Radovan Karajic. Both were convicted by the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY), a court which had been set up by the UN to deal with the crimes perpetrated during the civil war.
The Genocide Convention is worth a read.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genocide_Convention
Re: the trials of Mladic & Karajic…
Those trials had the support of the “winners” of the Jugoslavia conflict, USA & its Allies. If the winners had not wanted the trials for their own political reasons, the trials would not have happened.
The big challenge for any genocide trial of Israel, is not so much the evidence of intent, but getting the trials under way without the active consent and support of key Western allies of Israel, most of whom are permanent Security Council members.
We know where Trump is coming from, with threats to judges and lawyers on international courts, just like his attacks on Albanese, he’s just less subtle than previous Presidents have been before him. He’ll probably get away with it, as will Starmer.
The UN can only work when the USA allows it to work. Which is of course why IHL defendants are never US Presidents or UK or Israeli Prime Ministers, even after illegal wars fought by unlawful means.
Wow! Just wow!
What an incredible speech.
Intent is a legal requirement for the crime of genocide under international law but not necessarily in the form of “let’s go out and commit genocide today”, rather actions which would inevitably result in genocide.
In the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.
Genocide means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such:
Killing members of the group;
Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;
Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part;
Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;
Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.
There is evidence that Israel is guilty of all of these acts in Gaza, a defence, if all be proven, that genocide is not the intention would rather stretch credulity.
Success in the intention is not a requirement for the crime of genocide, for example, the Nazi’s did not succeed in killing all the Jewish people in Europe, but were still guilty of genocide.
For “in part” in the definition to apply, the part targeted must be “substantial”
There is a broader use of the term genocide in everyday speech in which proven intent would not necessarily be required. Without ‘intent’ a legal action for genocide against the perpetrators would not be successful but they would still almost certainly be guilty of a somewhat lesser crime, probably war crimes
As a consumer I know I need to be more aware of where I purchase my goods from and what companies we use. Is there an easier way to find this out and share with others?
Good question.
Does anyone know?
https://theislamicinformation.com/news/list-of-brands-supporting-israel/
Yes, there is an App called No Thank You which lists all the products made by companies with ties to the Zionist state. It’s part of the BDS movement. Highly recommend having it on your phone for handy reference.
I’ve asked DeepSeek for the information :
Yes, I can provide a list of companies that have been identified by various human rights organizations, NGOs, and the United Nations as operating in or benefiting from business activities in Israeli settlements in the **Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT)**, including the **West Bank** and **East Jerusalem**. These settlements are considered illegal under international law (UNSC Res. 2334, Fourth Geneva Convention).
### **Companies Profiting from Israeli Settlements**
The following companies have been cited in reports by **Who Profits, the UN Human Rights Council (HRC), Amnesty International, and BDS Movement** for their involvement in settlement-related activities:
#### **1. Consumer Goods & Food Companies**
– **PepsiCo** – Sources produce from settlement farms in the West Bank.
– **Ahava** – An Israeli cosmetics company that sources minerals from the Dead Sea (partly in occupied territory).
– **SodaStream** (Now owned by **PepsiCo**) – Previously operated a factory in the **Mishor Adumim** settlement industrial zone.
– **Tnuva** (Israeli dairy company, owned by **Bright Food** of China) – Operates in settlements.
– **Tempo Beer** (Israeli brewery operating in Atarot settlement, East Jerusalem).
#### **2. Retail & Supermarkets**
– **Carrefour** – Operates in Israel through a franchise that sources products from settlements.
– **General Mills** (owner of **Pillsbury, Haagen-Dazs**) – Works with Israeli suppliers in settlements.
– **Tesco** (UK) – Has been criticized for stocking settlement products.
#### **3. Tourism & Hospitality**
– **Airbnb** – Previously listed rental properties in settlements but later removed some (faced legal pressure).
– **Booking.com** – Lists hotels and accommodations in settlements (e.g., in East Jerusalem).
– **Expedia** – Also lists settlement properties.
– **TripAdvisor** – Promotes tourism in settlements.
#### **4. Banks & Financial Services**
– **Bank Hapoalim, Bank Leumi** (Israeli banks) – Provide loans and services to settlements.
– **HSBC, Barclays** – Have invested in companies involved in settlements.
#### **5. Security & Tech Firms**
– **Caterpillar** – Supplies bulldozers used in home demolitions.
– **Hewlett Packard (HP)** – Provides tech infrastructure for Israeli checkpoints.
– **Elbit Systems** – Israeli arms company supplying surveillance tech for settlements.
### **UN Database (2020)**
In 2020, the **UN Human Rights Council** published a list of **112 companies** with ties to settlements. Some major names included:
– **Motorola Solutions** (surveillance systems)
– **Alstom** (rail infrastructure in settlements)
– **Egis Rail** (involved in Jerusalem Light Rail, which connects settlements)
### **How to Verify & Take Action?**
– **Who Profits** (whoprofits.org) – Tracks corporate involvement in settlements.
– **BDS Movement** (bdsmovement.net) – Leads boycott campaigns against such companies.
– **UN OHCHR Database** – Lists businesses active in settlements.
Below is a list of **well-known consumer brands** (not just parent companies) that have been linked to business activities in **Israeli settlements** in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT), as identified by the **UN, BDS Movement, WhoProfits, and other human rights organizations**.
### **1. Food & Beverage Brands**
– **Sabra Hummus** (Joint venture between **PepsiCo** & Israeli company **Strauss Group**) – Sources some ingredients from settlements.
– **Tnuva** (Israeli dairy brand) – Operates in settlements; products include milk, cheese, and yogurt.
– **Tempo Beer** (Israeli brand producing **Goldstar, Maccabee**) – Brewery located in **Atarot settlement, East Jerusalem**.
– **Jaffa Oranges/Carmel Agrexco** – Exports produce grown in settlements.
### **2. Cosmetics & Personal Care**
– **Ahava** (Dead Sea cosmetics) – Sources mud & minerals from occupied West Bank.
– **L’Occitane** (French brand) – Previously partnered with Ahava; faced boycott pressure.
### **3. Fashion & Apparel**
– **Delta Galil** (Israeli manufacturer for **Calvin Klein, Tommy Hilfiger, Victoria’s Secret**) – Operates factories in settlements.
– **Renuar** (Israeli fashion brand) – Owned by **Alon Blue Square**, which operates supermarkets in settlements.
### **4. Home Goods & Retail**
– **SodaStream** (Carbonated drink machines) – Previously manufactured in **Mishor Adumim** industrial zone (West Bank).
– **ACE Hardware** (In Israel) – Sells products in settlements.
### **5. Travel & Tourism Platforms**
– **Booking.com** – Lists hotels & rentals in settlements (e.g., **Leonardo Hotel in East Jerusalem**).
– **Expedia, Agoda, TripAdvisor** – Also promote settlement tourism.
### **6. Tech & Electronics**
– **HP (Hewlett-Packard)** – Provides IT systems for Israeli checkpoints and settlements.
– **Motorola Solutions** – Supplies surveillance tech for settlements.
### **7. Banks & Financial Services**
– **Bank Hapoalim & Bank Leumi** – Provide mortgages and loans for settlement construction.
—
### **How Are These Brands Involved?**
– **Sourcing** – Using raw materials (agriculture, minerals) from settlements.
– **Manufacturing** – Factories in settlement industrial zones (e.g., **Barkan Industrial Zone**).
– **Sales & Services** – Operating stores, rentals, or financial services in settlements.
### **Where to Find Updated Lists?**
– **BDS Movement** (bdsmovement.net) – Leads boycott campaigns.
– **WhoProfits** (whoprofits.org) – Investigates corporate ties to occupation.
– **UN Human Rights Council Database** (2020) – Lists 112+ companies.
I haven’t verified its sources, although they look reputable. It also offered to look up details on boycott campaigns or alternatives to these brands, so readers may like to investigate further.
The Co-op has announced that following a motion at their AGM to boycott Israel, which was received a vote of 73% in support, they will no longer stock Israeli produce. Reported in various papers, including the Guardian and Jewish Chronicle, but here’s a link to the Grocer’s Gazette, which provides the best coverage IMO.
https://www.grocerygazette.co.uk/2025/06/24/co-op-stop-goods-israel/
Meanwhile in Belgium – they are doing summat about parts & weapons to Israel.
https://www.vrt.be/vrtnws/en/2025/07/17/flanders-must-block-all-transit-of-military-equipment-to-israel/